Building/Upgrading a PC for TS2
akatonbo:
Quote from: Hegelian on 2006 May 29, 18:57:34
Quote from: akatonbo on 2006 May 29, 18:27:22
Quote from: Hegelian on 2006 May 29, 17:54:19
Windows 3.1 needed to run on PCs with as little as 64 MB or 128 MB RAM
You did mean KB and not MB, right?
Lol! No; the official minimum memory requirement for Windows 3.1 is 1 MB (640 KB + 256 KB). Win95 requires 4 MB and Win98 requires 16 MB. So yeah, I was thinking more of functional requirements rather than the absolute minimum. ;D
I hated Win3.1 on sight, so I knew I might have been misremembering the likely RAM amounts for the corresponding years, but aren't 64MB and 128MB still ridiculously high numbers for the pre-Win95 era? The 486 I owned around that time wasn't beefy enough for Win95, and it wasn't especially high end when it was brand new (1992-1993), but it was a remarkably solid machine (I used it until 2001 as a Linux box, and at one point I had it running for over 180 days without reboot -- with the events at either end of that span being a power outage and a thousand mile move), and that box had a whopping 8MB of RAM when it was new and I lated upgraded it to a staggering 20MB (so I could run XWindows, Netscape 4, three different graphics editing programs, a MU* client, Pine, emacs, and at least one instance of Lynx all at the same time without the machine crying like a baby).
J. M. Pescado:
Win3.1 was content with a memory alotment more like *2* MB, and Win95 could run on 16 tolerably. Naturally, it would still consume more than half of your RAM and continued to do so no matter how much you installed.
witch:
Wow Hegelian, what an awesome reply. I understand now what is happening with the two memory managers - indeed why shift stuff off the hard drive, into RAM, then into a pagefile - certainly not efficient, particularly if there is plenty of RAM.
I wonder whether it's possible to get an OS to run purely in RAM?
Anyway, I'll try tweaking the settings and ta for the link to cacheman. I want to save your text, it's very helpful, hope you don't mind?
ETA
First off I tried running the sims, it's running in the background now, cacheman shows I'm nowhere near the limit of my RAM.
I don't understand why it says the paging file is 990Mb though, because I set it at the following - and have rebooted since.
Also, there seems to be no need to run a paging file at all on my PC, do you reckon it's safe to turn off?
Hegelian:
I've not quite figured out why there is a mismatch between what Windows reports for the paging file in real time what what we set in the system settings. It appears to be making its calculation based on more than just the allocated hard drive space. In any case, if you find that you can run without problems with the 100/200 settings, that's good; I found that on my machine I needed to set it higher to avoid the occasional "low virtual memory" message. Since I'm not short on disc space and I get no disc thrashing, my 100/800 setting is good enough. :)
What Cacheman is reporting for TS2 usage is probably just what the actual program file is using. That entry probably does not include whatever RAM is being used by the game content (downloads etc.), although I could be mistaken. The overall RAM usage of 1250 MB is in line with what I see when I run the game here. The Paging File use is also consistent with what I get with Exectutive Paging turned off.
For reasons I can't explain, Windows really needs a Paging File to work at its best; it just expects to see one and has issues when it does not. Also, some applications also expect to see one and don't run well (or at all) if you disable it completely. You can find testimonials on the Web from users who claim they run Windows with no Paging File without problems, but who are they and how reliable is their information, after all? Best practice is to have a Paging File, even if it is small. And if you have more than one drive, you should keep a small Paging File on the boot drive even if you relocate the main file to another drive.
BTW, on a machine running Win98 in 512 MB of RAM, I have the swap file maximum set to around 100-120 MB (I don't remember exactly), and when the swap-file usage approaches the upper limit, it goes to zero and then isn't used for the rest of the session. Windows sees a swap file so it works fine, but apparently the virtual memory manager thinks that once the upper limit is reached it isn't safe to use the swap file anymore and just ignores it (or maybe it's having a hissy fit).
BTW #2: If you don't use iTunes you can turn off the iTunes service (services run in the backgound whether you're using them or not) to save resources and CPU cycles; recent versions of QuickTime install iTunes whether you want it or not. By default, WinXP automatically starts a number of unnecessary services (especially the Pro version), which can be either set to Manual (i.e., start as needed) or disabled altogether. There are two Web sites that go through the Services in detail and make recommendations regarding whether they should be Automatic, Manual, or Disabled. Although the Black Viper site appears to be better known, I think The Elder Geek site is more reliable, or at least gives more information.
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm
http://www.dead-eye.net/WinXP%20Services.htm
Note that some services are installed by applications such as anti-virus programs, so if you see one that one of these sites doesn't mention and you can't identify it, it's best to leave it as is. OTOH, if you don't use ATi hot keys for changing video settings on your ATi graphics board, it is safe to disable the ATi Hotkey Poller and ATi Smart (unless you have an XT version of an ATi board:)
The ATI Hotkey Poller service is only needed if you use the ATI Hotkey settings available in the ATI Control Center (See ATI Control Center section below). If you don't use these (and most people don't) you can safely double-click on this service and select 'Disabled' under the Startup Type box. However, if you have an 'XT' type ATI graphics card, then disabling this service can also disable the OverDrive section in the Control Center. Therefore I recommend that if you run an XT card, you should leave this service on Automatic, otherwise set it to Disabled. Further, if you run a laptop with an ATI graphics card, you may need to keep this service enabled to allow your LCD screen to switch off when the laptop is closed.
The ATI Smart service is a bit more vague, as it is not needed for the ATI SmartGart settings to work. It seems to continually detect system conditions at boot time and adjust SmartGart settings if needed to maintain stability, but in effect it's just a useless resource hog. I highly recommend disabling this service - I have experienced no negative impacts by doing so. You should still be able to adjust SmartGart settings without any problems (as detailed in the Advanced SmartGart and ATI Control Center section below), however if you find your SmartGart changes won't "stick", set this service to Automatic, change your SmartGart settings, reboot and then disable this service.
Copyright © 2006 Koroush Ghazi (TweakGuides.com)
Be aware that disabling certain essential services can prevent Windows from running!
witch:
Quote from: Hegelian on 2006 May 30, 16:30:35
That entry probably does not include whatever RAM is being used by the game content (downloads etc.), although I could be mistaken. The overall RAM usage of 1250 MB is in line with what I see when I run the game here.
Yeah, I was expecting the RAM to be used more heavily because I have about 2Gb of custom content in fact it was one of the things that I was hoping for with more RAM.
The CPU was running about 41% - 46% with just the sims, up until the moment I took a picture of the screen, then it jumped to 96%.
Quote
For reasons I can't explain, Windows really needs a Paging File to work at its best; it just expects to see one and has issues when it does not. Also, some applications also expect to see one and don't run well (or at all) if you disable it completely. ... And if you have more than one drive, you should keep a small Paging File on the boot drive even if you relocate the main file to another drive.
No, I decided to keep the paging file on C as the drives are much larger and much much faster. Good to know I could put it on another though. Ta, I'll keep a pagefile running, I know Windoze has some weird legacy quirks.
Quote
By default, WinXP automatically starts a number of unnecessary services (especially the Pro version), which can be either set to Manual (i.e., start as needed) or disabled altogether.
XP sure does! I actually went through and cleaned out the services when I first set up the PC. I only noticed the new services (like itunes) when I saw the screen pic. Anything I'm not sure about I just put to manual startup anyway, so I haven't managed to wreck Windoze yet. :)
Good info about ATI - first time I've gone to those cards instead of nvidia, I'll have a play.
ETA Have cut down automatically starting services from 27 to 18 after reading those websites. :) (And windoze still boots).
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